ER waiting times

In the wake of my story Saturday about problems and long waiting times in University Hospital’s emergency room comes word that Methodist Stone Oak Hospital is plastering its ER wait times on a billboard.

The new hospital is posting the waiting time from the admitting window to a “station” in the ER on its Web site and an electronic billboard at U.S. 281 and Evans Road, with updates every four hours, according to a press release.

“Our emergency room is another example of our high tech, high touch focus,” Dean M. Alexander, the hospital’s CEO, said in a release. “We have the latest equipment and specially trained staff so that quality emergency care is available to everyone at any given time. We have a lot of growing families in the surrounding neighborhoods, and knowing that emergency care is available to them in a timely manner is important to them.”

Of course, Methodist Stone Oak isn’t overwhelmed with the uninsured and those with life-threatening injuries from throughout South Texas, as University is. Still, a little more transparency among hospitals is always a good thing. It might stir up competition.